


A Fleeting Memory of Heroism

by Fundelstein



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Accidents, F/M, Gen, Memory Loss, Mutually Unrequited, Podfic Welcome, Temporary Character Death, The Promise, What-If, possibly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:41:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26058157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fundelstein/pseuds/Fundelstein
Summary: How did young Cloud survive that fall with only a pair of skinned knees?
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	A Fleeting Memory of Heroism

When Tifa opened her eyes, the world had gone sideways.

_What?_

Her vision was spotty, and her lungs burned at every breath. A rock dug into her jaw, another one against her stomach. She tried raise her head, tried to push herself up, but she barely got her fingers to twitch.

_Where… am I? Why can’t I move?_

Tifa wasn’t alone. Someone else was laying there, just beyond her reach. They were nothing but a shadow on the ground.

_Who’s that?_

For a moment, her eyes focused, and she saw him. He was laying on his back, lifeless as a rag doll, his body strewn on the ground. His head turned away from her, but she saw his hair. His blond, spiky hair.

_Cloud?_

And then, it came back to her in a flash.

She had been trying to cross the bridge, but then her foot slipped. She fell. Someone had shouted her name. And then he grabbed her, wrapped his arms around her…

“Cloud!” Her voice came out in a weak croak.

There was blood underneath him. He was so still.

Why?

What was he even doing here?

Where were the guys? Why weren’t they with her?

Cloud, he still wasn’t moving. Was he… dead?

Dead? Just like Mom?

Was she going to die too?

Tears were streaming down her face. She found a tiny bit of strength and reached out to him again. She tried to move again, tried to crawl towards him, but her body was lead. She cried out his name again, but it turned into a low whimper.

_No, I don’t like this._

_Please, somebody. Help us._

_Please. Help us._

She shut her eyes tight, hoping this would all go away. Wishing and that this was a bad dream. She opened her eyes, blinking back tears. Then she gasped.

The world had changed. It had grown dark. And she was surrounded by ribbons of light.

There was a woman kneeling over Cloud, watching over him. She was pale haired and surrounded by a strange sheen of light, and she was dressed in full, gleaming armor, much like a knight in a fairy tale.

A knight in shining armor.

The woman glanced up at Tifa and nodded, smiling gently.

 _ **Do not fear, my child,**_ a voice spoke in her head.

She looked down again, brushing a hand against his forehead. His body began to shimmer and glow.

 _ **This**_ _ **boy**_ _ **will not die**_. _**He**_ _ **must**_ _ **live… for he is special. The planet must have a**_ _ **hero**_ _ **. It will need him one day.**_

Tifa couldn’t understand. Who was this woman? What was she saying?

The woman looked up and stared at her again. She bowed her head.

_**Sleep.** _

At once, Tifa lost the last of her strength, and her vision swam. She felt as if she were sinking, fading away.

 _I’m going to die, aren’t_ _I_ _?_

 _But as_ _she_ _lost all of her senses and fell asleep, the voice rang in her mind._

 _**No, you will** _ _**live**_ _ **.** _ _**For that is what he sacrificed himself for…** _

It was a whole week before Tifa opened her eyes and woke up in the hospital. Her father cried tears of joy. It took another week for him to claim why she had been hurt in the first place.

“You got dragged off to Mt. Nibel by Claudia’s boy. That dang fool boy! What on Gaia was he thinking?”

She couldn’t remember what happened. She barely recalled even going up mountain. But the story her father told her, it sounded… wrong. It didn’t make sense. That didn’t sound like Cloud at all. But later, when she mustered up the courage to say that to him, her father had turned red in the face. He brushed her off.

She didn’t bring it up again.

According to everyone else, Cloud walked away from the fall with a pair of skinned knees and a few nasty bruises. No one could understand why. The other kids thought it was creepy, and he started getting into fights. Some of the grown-ups said he had Ifrit’s luck.

But… something odd had happened on the mountain, didn’t it? Tifa could never figure it out. And yet, once in a while, she saw a fleeting current of light in her dreams. Sometimes, she heard a woman whispering in her ear. But the moment she woke up, Tifa always forgot what she said.

A few years later, Cloud got up the nerve to pass her a note, telling her to come meet him at the water tower. Before Tifa went, she put on her favorite dress, a pair of matching shoes, and she brushed her hair until it was sleek. She wondered if she looked pretty enough.

Her heart pounded all the way to the water tower, and it only got worse as she climbed up the ladder. She circled around the water tank… and there he was.

“So… what did you wanna talk about?” she asked, sitting down.

He told her he was going away in the spring, heading to Midgar. Her heart felt sick, hearing that. She was… disappointed. After all this time, he finally wants to talk to her… and only to say that he’s leaving?

Figures.

“I’m gonna be a SOLDIER,” he said. “The best of the best. Like Sephiroth.”

Her breath hitched. That struck a cord in her. Something familiar in her.

 _ **A hero,**_ a voice whispered in her head. _**He’s going to b**_ _ **e**_ _ **a hero.**_

And Tifa believed it.

But… would it have been weird to say, “For some reason, I think you already are”? Oh, there was so much she wanted to tell him. How in nine hells was she supposed to explain that?

“The great war hero,” she replied. “Isn’t it pretty hard to become a SOLDIER?”

“Yeah. So I won’t be back for a long time.”

There was that. A long time, and she wouldn’t be able to see him. For years and years, maybe.

Cloud, he never was like the rest of the kids. And he was going to Midgar. How would he ever have time to think of little old Nibelheim? Or some country girl who lived there?

“Guess not. Think you’ll be in the papers?”

Cloud snorted. “I’ll try.”

Tifa looked up at the night sky, swing her legs over the edge on the wooden planks. She wondered, why her? Why was he telling her? Why did he _want_ to? Did this somehow make her… special?

 _But will he_ _even remember me…_ _when he gets into SOLDIER_ _?_

That would be the worst, being forgotten. Being left behind.

But if there was a way, one small thing. If she gave him a reason to remember her—

Tifa took a deep breath and made a decision.

“Just... promise me one thing…”


End file.
